Chapter 46: Blade and Darkness
Inside the massive crater blasted out by three Apollos, the air was distorted by the intense heat. The crater walls had been vitrified by the solar flames, cracking and sparking underfoot.
Blackbeard held his breath, his gaze fixed intently on Su Xiao. Although he knew he needed to leave this place quickly, Su Xiao was clearly not an easy opponent. The earlier invitation had been Blackbeard's stalling tactic.
Darkness surged from within Blackbeard, covering the ground nearby. A pitch-black vortex appeared behind him, spitting out two blood-soaked figures. Flames flickered, indicating that the darkness had previously swallowed the air and was now releasing it.
"Huff, huff..."
Champion Burgess gasped for breath, blood dripping down his face.
"Burgess, take Whitebeard and get out of here. Shiryu and the others should be nearby."
Blackbeard walked past Burgess and Doc Q. These two had survived the Apollo by being swallowed into Blackbeard's Dark Void. Although they had escaped the Apollo's explosion, the Dark Void was not a defensive technique, and Burgess and Doc Q had nearly been crushed to death by the darkness.
"Captain, Shiryu and those guys..."
Burgess was clearly indignant, scornful of Shiryu and the others for fleeing in the moment of crisis.
"It doesn't matter. As long as I'm strong enough, they'll still follow me."
Blackbeard stood on the darkness, panting heavily. The surrounding heat caused sweat to bead on his face.
Burgess and Doc Q said nothing more. They quickly ran to Whitebeard, tentatively threw a few punches at him, then hoisted the man up and ran toward the edge of the crater. That's right, hoisted him. Whitebeard was now like a statue, his entire body's muscles tensed to the hardness of rock.
"I can finally breathe again. I've suddenly changed my mind about inviting you to be my crewmate, zehahaha."
Blackbeard glanced at the wound on Su Xiao's shoulder. The blood hole, as thick as an arm, was clearly a serious injury.
Hiss~
A stream of black gas vented from beside the metal mask on Su Xiao's face. He didn't charge at Blackbeard but instead faced off against him.
"You still managed to save Whitebeard from the solar flames. Do you want his corpse? Or are you waiting for something to take from him when he's on the verge of death?"
Su Xiao naturally knew Blackbeard's goal. Contrary to his usual style, he began talking with Blackbeard before the fight.
"Oh? You figured it out? Doesn't matter."
Blackbeard wasn't in a hurry to attack either. He felt like a crab thrown into a steamer. Furthermore, due to the lack of oxygen in the crater, holding his breath had caused his blood oxygen levels to drop significantly. He needed ten to thirty seconds to recover.
"Fire gold is a very unstable metal. It's flammable and conducts energy. Even similar substitute materials share these traits. When fire gold burns, it rapidly consumes the oxygen, helium, krypton, and nitrogen dioxide in the blast zone. Some of these are used for combustion, but most are consumed meaninglessly. This causes the fire gold, after burning out, to produce large amounts of carbon monoxide and ash acid. Of course, ash acid is not a naturally occurring element. In alchemy, it's called a 'separated synthetic element.' At the same volume, its toxicity is 1760 times that of aflatoxin, and its biological reaction is similar to fugu toxin."
Su Xiao's words left Blackbeard, a chemistry illiterate, completely baffled.
"What fugu?"
"..."
Su Xiao fell silent. His goal of stalling for time had been achieved. With every breath Blackbeard took, the ash acid poisoning reaction became more severe.
"Can't understand a word of it. But my strength's back."
Darkness enveloped Blackbeard's hands. Because Su Xiao had been fighting with his blade, Blackbeard didn't charge at him. Instead, he manipulated the darkness, forming two large, pitch-black claws that reached for Su Xiao.
"No one's seen this before. I'll show you today."
Under Blackbeard's control, two house-sized claws shot toward Su Xiao, the darkness connecting them stretching rapidly.
The black claws reached Su Xiao in an instant. Instead of slashing at them, Su Xiao tapped the end of his sword's hilt against his metal mask.
Hiss~
Black gas vented from the side of the metal mask. The two black claws suddenly slowed down. This wasn't caused by Su Xiao's ability, but by a problem with Blackbeard himself.
"This is..."
Blackbeard tried to move his fingers. They did move, but with a delay of at least 0.5 seconds. It was a strange feeling. He could clearly command his body through his central nervous system, but his actions were noticeably half a beat behind.
"My body's in bad shape."
Blackbeard turned and fled toward the edge of the crater. He could barely take care of himself now, let alone fight. In his current state, if Su Xiao got close, he was dead for sure.
Blackbeard had only taken a few steps when his body suddenly returned to normal. The sudden shift caused him to trip and fall face-first, kissing the ground—the scorching hot ground.
"That hurts!"
Blackbeard covered his mouth with one hand. But to his dismay, the feeling of losing control over his body returned.
Banishment silently stabbed toward the back of Blackbeard's head. Darkness surged, and Banishment pierced into the darkness, disappearing.
Su Xiao lost his perception of Banishment, but he was certain of one thing: Banishment hadn't been destroyed.
A sound of something cutting through the air came from behind Blackbeard. He rolled on the spot, looking clumsy but dodging a spike formed from pale blue crystals. His body returned to normal again.
Blackbeard's mind raced. He didn't understand chemistry or alchemy, but he noticed one thing: Su Xiao had been wearing a metal mask the whole time. That thing was clearly some kind of gas mask.
'The air is poisoned!'
Realizing this, Blackbeard immediately held his breath. However, he had fallen for a trick. Su Xiao had only said that ash acid was highly toxic, with a biological reaction similar to fugu toxin. But he had concealed one point: ash acid reacts with blood. As long as the poisoning doesn't immediately paralyze the respiratory system, antibodies will quickly form in the blood. These antibodies will intermittently suppress the effects of the ash acid, leading to complete immunity after 20 to 50 seconds.
The moment Blackbeard held his breath, a sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him.
Su Xiao used Dragon Shadow Flash to penetrate space. The scene before him changed, and Blackbeard, who had his back to him, appeared. Long-term use of Dragon Shadow Flash had made him accustomed to this feeling.
Azure Steel Shadow energy surged along Dragon-Slaying Flash. The long blade left a slashing mark in the air, cutting into Blackbeard's back.
The long blade first tore through his clothes. The blade's edge touched the skin and flesh on Blackbeard's back, sinking into the flesh without resistance. But after cutting in only two centimeters, Su Xiao felt a powerful resistance. Blackbeard's body was like a piece of extremely tough rubber. His external defense was similar to Aokiji, Akainu, and the others, all wrapped in Haki, but his internal defense was incredibly strong.
A pitch-black claw shot toward Su Xiao's face. He could only leap backward. The long blade left the wound on Blackbeard's back, bringing with it a trace of blood.
"It hurts!!"
Blackbeard's scream, like a pig being slaughtered, rang out. His reaction was exaggerated. He writhed on the ground in pain, flailing his hands behind his back, almost kicking his legs.
Blackbeard wasn't weak-willed. On the contrary, his will was very strong. The reason for his current state was related to his Devil Fruit ability.
Blackbeard's Devil Fruit ability was the Logia-type Yami Yami no Mi. This was a very special Logia. Its user couldn't become intangible, but could use darkness to absorb external damage. The reason Su Xiao's slash couldn't cut through Blackbeard's muscles was because of the Yami Yami no Mi's ability. It was absorbing Su Xiao's slash, but at the cost of Blackbeard suffering double the pain from the attack.
Unfortunately, the Yami Yami no Mi's ability couldn't absorb Azure Steel Shadow energy. The excruciating pain caused by the Azure Steel Shadow energy, combined with the side effects of the Yami Yami no Mi, complemented each other perfectly. The resulting pain was unimaginable.